Annihilation
by RoseOfTheTribe
Summary: With the original team having disbanded years ago, they are suddenly brought back together after the loss of one of their own. Fighting to discover the origins and motives behind a new rising threat across the universe, they team up with the Guardians of the Galaxy and a mysterious drifter to avenge their fallen and save the galaxy. Cosmic story.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

It's been a little over five years since the team of young heroes last worked together under the guidance of Director Nick Fury. Having concentrated their efforts to the threats that lied beyond the solar system, S.H.I.E.L.D. had officially endorsed the establishment of S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient World Observation and Response Department) in order to deal with beings of other worlds.

Peter Parker continued donning the mask of Spider-Man, keeping a vigilant eye over New York City. His efforts had earned him an honorary spot among the Avengers, who periodically asked for his help from time to time. Working towards his master's degree in biochemical engineering, Peter secured a position at Oscorp through his old high school friend, Harry Osborn. While he helped create world-changing substances during the day, he'd help fight the injustices of New York at night.

After graduating from college, Ava Ayala worked full-time for S.H.I.E.L.D. as a special field agent while still being called the elusive White Tiger. When she wasn't hunting down terrorist organizations and criminal syndicates, she was relaxing at her beachfront property in Puerto Rico and reading up on the latest guilty pleasure romance novel or reminiscing on her adventures with her old team.

Luke Cage returned to Harlem after the team disbanded and worked on community outreach programs for the youth, while also opening up his own boxing gym. He eventually crossed paths with a known private investigator from Hell's Kitchen and began a relationship with her, offering his hand to help her with her investigations whenever they came about.

After returning to K'un-L'un to take his rightful place as its champion and ruler, Danny Rand eventually began introducing the ancient city to the 21st Century, building up their infrastructure and their ability to communicate outside of the mystic shroud that surrounded them. While still an enigma to the world, Danny was working hard to change the outlook of K'un-L'un for the better.

Sam Alexander, on the other hand, returned to his outer-world life amongst his old team, the Guardians of the Galaxy. They had their run-ins with dangerous gangs across the galaxy, all while trying to protect local star systems and collecting bounties.

Eventually, however, the team grew apart. Star-Lord returned to Earth to help Nick Fury spearhead the operations over at S.W.O.R.D. Rocket and Groot continued their former bounty hunter lifestyles and Drax disappeared into dark space. Nova and Gamora went to help establish the New Nova Corps on Xandar. Within two years, they were both able to recreate the former Nova Corps to a stronger state.

Gamora headed more covert operations for them while Nova primarily stayed on Xandar to ward off old threats, such as the Kree, from encroaching upon the territory.

For some time, all had seemed fine across the galaxy.

But, that all quickly changed.

* * *

_Inside **The Kyln**…_

Nova played around with a ball of energy that he created out of the palms of his hands as he waited for the elevator to land at the correct level he was looking for. He was accompanied by two rookie Nova Corpsmen, who were seemingly in awe to be standing next to the legendary hero himself.

The elevator suddenly rumbled while it continued down the shaft. The two rookies were startled, but Sam remained unhinged.

"Relax, guys," he jokingly advised, "If they get in here, we're already dead."

One of them audibly gulped.

"I heard the Outriders got out of their cells," one of them worriedly relayed, "I heard they have massive t-teeth."

"Yeah, and a bunch of arms too," Nova added, "Nothing we can't handle, though."

Finally, the elevator slowed down to a single halt. The two rookies nervously withdrew their energy rifles at the ready, while Nova simply discarded the energy ball, peering as it faded away.

The doors slid open, revealing a rather tall, hooded feminine figure. She had her hands at her hips, seemingly impatient, with a vicious-looking sword strapped at her back. Drawing her hood back, she revealed her bright yellow eyes, one of them covered with an eyepatch, long reddish-black hair, and green skin.

"Was wondering when you'd show up, **Gamora**!" Nova happily greeted, "Thought they'd send _just me_ to take care of this mess."

"They needed someone to make sure the job gets _done_," she sarcastically answered, "Besides, you're going to need some help."

She glanced sideways at the rookies.

"D-Do you want us to follow you, sir?" one of them asked Nova.

"Nah, you boys are good. Keep a flask of your finest Xandarian whiskey warm for me. I'll down it once I'm through with this."

"Yes, sir!" they both answered in-sync.

Just like that, the two of them disappeared behind the elevator doors and returned back up to the main command level of the Kyln.

Looking around, Nova observed the darkened chasm underneath the metal cat-walk that they found themselves on. Rows and rows of empty cells lined the walls into the pitch black beyond.

"So, I assume you know the situation now that you're here."

He shrugged, "I heard some prisoners were getting rowdy so Nova Prime ordered me here, with a battalion of Denarians, should we fail in containment."

"That's an understatement," she corrected, withdrawing her sword, "You can walk, talk, and fight, right?"

"Of course."

"Good, follow me."

He lifted himself gently off the floor and energized his armor, causing his entire presence to eradiate a soft blue glow, especially from his weaponized gauntlets. He hovered as he followed her through the long cat-walk towards a sealed off door guarded by a small team of Centurions.

"You going to tell me what happened to your eye?"

She glanced back with a glare.

"Ran into Nebula during one of my missions in the outer-rim. Tried to take her in. Long story short: she tried to cut my eye out. I cut her hand off."

"Jeez. Is your eye good, though?"

"It'll heal."

"Alright, just making sure."

She remained silent.

"So, what's _really _going on here?"

"There was a power failure in the energy capacitors keeping the Kyln afloat. Whoever was making routine maintenance checks didn't do their job well. Two whole blocks of the prison lost life support. Bastards didn't have a chance before glazing up in the vacuum," she explained, "When the guard figured out what was wrong, they accidentally reverted power from maximum security to the two lost blocks, causing the worst of the worst to crawl out of their cells."

"What kind of baddies are we talking about here?"

"Well, they had all types of scum locked up in there. Outriders. Kree. Chitauri. Brood. Klyntar. You name it, they were probably holed up in there."

"Sounds like it's going to be fun."

"No different than when we fought off that army of rogue Phalanx on Halfworld."

"Yeah, but we had the whole crew back then."

She sighed.

"Yeah, we did."

"So, what's the plan?" he quickly asked, changing the subject.

"Right. So, there's a central module in the middle of maximum security that controls the power to the entire block. Since the energy transformers were damaged in the transfer, we can reactivate emergency power directly from that module. Once power is returned, we can initiate a sonic blast cleanse to completely eradicate any lifeform outside of the module that isn't in their cell."

"Sounds kinda harsh, don't you think?"

"I know. But, it's either that or risk them breaking out into the rest of the prison and then to a ship. There's no easy way to take care of this."

"Alright," Nova shrugged, "If that's the plan."

"Just follow my lead and cover me," she simply instructed, "The sooner we get this done, the better."

"Following you, little green woman."

Sighing, she instructed the Centurions to open the sealed door. They prepared a defensive stance behind Nova and Gamora while one of them activated the door from a nearby console. It slowly slid open…

Suddenly…

_GARAGHA!_

A pack of Outriders swarmed out of the doorway, quickly pouncing on them. Gamora, having readied her sword, began cutting through them while Nova unleashed a barrage of energy blasts out of his hands. The Centurions advanced with energy fire, cutting down any Outriders who weren't killed by the two of them.

With a clearing finally open, Gamora beckoned Nova forward into the maximum-security block while the Centurions sealed the door shut behind them.

Were it not for Nova's bright glow, they would've been in complete darkness, aside from a few red emergency lights blinking far ahead in the corridor. The putrid smell of rotting corpses permeated throughout the corridor. There were dead bodies of different alien species strewn about, having assumedly been eviscerated by the Outriders as they tried to escape through there.

"Man, it smells worse than Drax's cooking," he joked.

"Ssh! You want them to hear us?!"

They slowly advanced through the corridor, finally into the massive cylindrical prison block, where rows of cells lined the walls hundreds of stories up. On the catwalks that lined the cells, fights had erupted. Over a thousand aliens of different species were up against one another, fighting for domination over the maximum-security block.

Nova and Gamora quickly ran across the catwalk, fighting off gangs of Kree and Chitauri, who were trying to rip each other apart.

The central module was suspended in the middle of the block with some sort of gravity mechanism that kept it from being accessible from the prisoners. Despite that, some of the Brood had flung themselves on top of it and had begun ripping it apart.

"There it is, Nova! Damn it, but it's several stories up there."

"Oh, come on!" He chuckled as he blasted away a pack of Outriders, "You forgot I can fly already!?"

Before she could answer, Nova took flight and swooped down to pick her up by her left hand. She subtly yelled curses at him as she dangled from his right arm.

"Damn you, Nova! I was going to fight my way up there!"

"And lose precious time?! That's not how we do business, Gamora!" he playfully taunted.

Reaching the spherical central module, he dropped her inside, quickly following with her. They fought their way through the nightmarish pack of Brood before reaching the console, which was stained with Brood blood.

"Give me a moment to route the power," Gamora instructed, "I forgot how crazy you were in battle."

"Nothing too crazy for Sam Alexander!" he triumphantly remarked.

Subtly chuckling, she pulled the switch and routed power back to the maximum-security block. Without a second's hesitation, she forced the sonic energy wipe to completely cleanse the catwalks and corridors outside of the cells. Within a few seconds, the loud sounds of alien shouts and fighting had ceased and only silence followed.

Taking a sigh of relief, Gamora sat down on a chair.

"Aw yeah! We did it! I told you we could!" Nova laughed, closing in to give her a hug, but she quickly raised her hand to stop him at arm's length.

"Yeah. We did. But, we're not in the clearing yet, though. We need to hold down this module until reinforcements arrive to help us secure the rest of the block. We don't know what did or didn't get wiped out by the blast."

"If you say so. But, I think we should—"

Suddenly, the entire module began to violently shake, as though critical systems within the module were failing.

"Um, Gamora, what's going on?!"

Quickly, she looked through the system logs on the console.

"Damn it! The sonic wipe damaged the module's gravity mechanism! It's going to fall!"

They both ran towards the exit where they entered through with only seconds left before the module made its freefall towards the bottom of the maximum-security block. Gamora quickly leapt off the edge of the platform and was able to grab the railings off one of the catwalks as she fell. Nova, on the other hand, attempted to keep the module suspended with his powers.

"Let it go, Nova! There's no use!" she shouted from afar.

"You sure?!" he grunted, struggling to manage the heavy module.

"Yes!"

Without another word, Nova let go of the module, but was caught by a loose chain that was hanging off its side. It caught on his ankle and pulled him down with it.

"**Nova!**" Gamora screamed.

"I'll be fine!" he shouted back, "Yee haw!"

Gamora couldn't help but chuckle in relief. Nova's humor was always something that broke through the dread of conflict. She watched as his glowing blue aura faded into the depths of the darkened block below. With power back, she quickly accessed a nearby lift to descend below.

* * *

_In the underbelly of the max-security block…_

The module crashed hard onto the solid floor below. It shattered into a hundred pieces, with Nova landing into a pile of alien corpses, fresh from having been thrown off the catwalks from the huge prison fight earlier.

"Ughh. Way to go, Sam. That's what you get for being stupid and trying to lift a thousand-ton ball," he sighed to himself.

He quickly hovered up and forced his blue glow to shine brighter to illuminate the area around him. It was completely pitch black with debris from above scattered about.

"What I'd give for some of Groot's natural light right about now."

Then, something scurried about within the debris. Nova quickly energized his hands and pointed them towards the source of the noise.

"Who's there?!"

Whispers then followed.

He began to swirl around, trying to pinpoint where the noises were coming from.

Then, figures began to emerge into the field of view of his aura.

A massive, darkish-brown skinned brute stomped close to Nova. Its large arms were accompanied by razor-sharp claws at the ends of his fingertips. It grunted and snarled loudly at Nova, like a rabid animal ready to pounce.

"Now, now, Black Dwarf. No need to eviscerate our prey just yet," a calm and weaker voice called out from behind the beast.

A slim, lanky figure floated into view. He had a slight grin across his pale-grey face and white hair that rounded the sides of his bald head. He wore some type of robe, whitish, with strange black markings embroidered on it.

"It's a soldier from the **Nova Corps**," a female voice pointed out.

Behind Nova, a tall, blue-haired, black-armored female alien marched towards him and stopped a few feet away. She had golden-red eyes with a black marking dashed across her greyish face.

"Strange. I thought we had wiped them out long ago," the lanky figure pondered.

"Yeah, well we're alive and well," Nova snapped back, "Now, why don't you weirdos just step back into your cages and I'll forget that you all tried to escape, capeesh?"

"He thinks he's being funny," the female darkly chuckled, "What do you think, my love?"

Out of nowhere, a fourth figure appeared. His grey face darkened by a black hood. He was shorter than the woman, skinnier, with a head that resembled an elf of some sort but wasn't one.

"I think we need to get rid of him and get out of here. There is no telling how long we've been in stasis," he cautiously noted.

"But, our master!" Black Dwarf growled, "He is still out there!"

"Agreed," the lanky figure concurred, swaying his fingers at Nova.

Without warning, a powerful invisible force wrapped itself around Nova and gripped him tight as though he was being constricted by an anaconda. The force shifted him closer to the lanky figure, who studied Nova for a brief second before interrogating him.

"Tell me, human, where are we and where is our master?"

"W-Who the hell are you people?" he grunted in response, struggling to breathe.

"My name is Ebony Maw, faithful servant to the Mad Titan himself."

"Mad Titan?" the grip loosened just enough for Nova to hold a conversation, "Wait a minute… you guys are… The Black Order! You guys worked for Thanos back during his insurrection."

"Correct. We were captured and imprisoned before we were able to realize our master's dream."

"Yeah, well a dream is all it's going to stay. I'm pretty sure your master is either dead or exiled in dark space. Either way, you're out of luck!"

Ebony Maw let out an audible sigh while keeping his gaze fixed on Nova.

"We'll be the judge of that," the female, Proxima Midnight, quickly corrected, "As for you…"

"I'm out of here!" Nova exclaimed, quickly blasting a powerful wave from his hands and blinding Maw long enough for him to loosen his grip.

Black Dwarf tried to pounce on him and smash him with his massive hulk-like arms, but Nova swiftly dodged his stomps and punches long enough to push a powerful energy blast right at the brute's face, causing him to fall backwards onto a pile of debris.

The Maw began lifting random bits of debris off the ground with his telekinetic powers and lunging them at Nova, who blasted them away as he hurdled towards the magician. Just as he got close enough to strike, Proxima tackled him down to the ground and began punching him relentlessly, using her entire body to keep him pinned.

Nova buckled and threw her off of him. Just as he did so, Corvus Glaive, her lover, came swooping in from a higher level with a sharpened spear-like rod and tried to impale Nova with it, but he quickly dodged it, grabbing the rod, and throwing it, along with Corvus, towards the rubble of the module.

While the rest of the order recovered, Maw summoned up another barrage of debris-fire, trying desperately to stop Nova. In a last minute attempt to stop them all at once, Nova clapped his hands together and unleashed a debilitating orb that expanded across the entire area, causing Maw and the others to fall hard onto the ground.

"Not so tough, eh?" Nova chuckled, "You know, after years of invading and pillaging, you guys sure do suck in a four-against-one fight."

"Do we?"

A deep and sullen voice spoke out from the depths of the darkness, prompting Nova to focus his attention towards it.

"Oh? A fifth contender? Coming to get your ass kicked too?" he taunted the voice.

"And here I believed those of the Nova Corps to be more… wise," the voice taunted back, "As legendary as you lot seem to be, your behavior mirrors more of a frightened child, struggling to fight their way out of their own imagination."

"Tough words from a guy who's hiding in the shadows."

"Nobody's hiding."

The voice became embodied in a tall, dark green-skinned alien that stepped forward from the darkness, somewhat resembling a Skrull, but not quite. He had large, black, bat-like wings on his back. His mouth was insect-like, like that of a fly's, but his eyes were more humanoid, greenish-red, and fixed on Nova.

"What the? What the hell are you? You look as though a Skrull, a Chitauri, and a house fly decided to have a baby together. Man, you are disgusting to look at."

The figure remained silent, only keeping his eyes locked on Nova.

"Well, stay still for just one second while I charge up my right hand and swat you like the rest of your buddies here."

Nova rapidly charged his right hand, creating an baseball-like orb that was powerful enough to devastate a larger foe, and just as he was about to throw it at the figure…

_SHUUUUNK!_

The orb faded out of Nova's hand. He suddenly felt his lungs heavy with the rushing taste of iron pouring through his mouth. It became hard to breath. He looked down and saw a sharp rod piercing through his chest, with blood pulsating through the sides of it.

Corvus pushed the rod upwards, having surprised Nova and impaled him. He lowered it back down and shoved the hero's body off the bloodied rod.

Losing blood quickly, he tried to crawl his way away from them, but the insectoid figure stood in his path.

"Do… do you mind, pal?" Nova croaked, "I'm trying… trying to… trying to bleed out in that corner over there. It looks… better than… over here."

"How disappointing," the figure observed, "You're not worth the title of a Nova."

He pulled the helmet off of Nova's head, revealing his goateed face.

"Give that back… that's… that's mine."

The figure tossed it aside.

"Go get it, then"

The Black Order and the mysterious figure watched as Nova crawled towards his signature black helmet.

"We are wasting our time, **Annihilus**," Maw noted, "Our master…"

"If he is correct then Thanos fled or perished before the war could even begin. It's been several galactic cycles now since the Mad Titan has departed. Possibly to another galaxy. Or to Mistress Death herself."

"How do you know that?" Corvus skeptically questioned.

"I've been counting down the seconds since we were all placed in stasis. Everything but my mind was frozen."

"So, what do we do now, then?" Proxima asked.

"We shall speak of that later. Come, Black Order, we must leave this place."

"What about him?" Black Dwarf grunted, referring to Nova.

Annihilus noted the amount of blood he was losing trailing off as he slowly crawled towards his helmet.

"He doesn't have much long now."

Back into the darkness, the figures disappeared, leaving only Nova's faint glow. He struggled to get closer to it, but ultimately failed to reach it.

A few minutes later, he heard footsteps running towards him.

"Nova? Nova are you there?"

It was Gamora.

She spotted his blue glow and rushed towards him.

"Nova! What happened?! Are you okay?!"

She knelt by him and helped him onto his back.

"You're… you're losing a lot of blood, Nova, but we can still save you! I've just got to call a medic! The Denarians are almost here!"

"No… no use, I'm afraid," he solemnly told her, "Damn it. They got me good."

"Who did?! Where are they?!"

"The… The Black Order, Gamora. They were… they were locked up here."

The name violently reminded her of the gang of alien raiders that accompanied her father, the Mad Titan Thanos, on his reign of terror across the galaxy, destroying planets and whole civilizations in his quest for the **Infinity Gems**.

"I thought… I thought they were long dead!"

"Me too…" he sighed, "But, they've got another guy leading them… Some guy…"

"Who?!"

"**Annihilus**, they called him…"

"Annihilus? Well, no time for that! Come on, we've got to get you out of here!"

He coughed up a wad of blood.

"Nah, I think I'll just stay here…"

"Nova, I'm sorry! I tried to get here quicker, I tried!"

"It's okay, Gamora," he smiled and weakly shrugged, "I gave them a helluva fight, though. You… you should've seen it…"

She kept her tears back, trying hard not to express them.

"Hey…" he then spoke.

"Yeah?"

"You tell Rocket and the rest of those dummies… it was great to ride with them… one last time."

The tears flowed out onto Gamora's face.

"I will. I'll tell them!"

"And… tell web-head and the others… that… _I did my best_."

With that last word, Sam stopped breathing. Weeping, Gamora lifted him up and hugged him tightly, mourning the loss of her friend.

The galaxy had lost its Nova.

* * *

_A message from the author..._

Thank you so much for reading if you got this far! This is my first time writing a fanfiction story so please let me know if I did good or not! I've posted one-shots before, but I didn't like the way they went about so I'm really trying to make something good here. I took a lot of the writing styles and inspirations from a lot of writers from this category on the website and in others so let me know! ^-^ - Evie.


	2. The Call

**The Call**

* * *

_Outside a warehouse in Lower East Side Manhattan…_

Night had fallen on New York City and the second day to a lot of New Yorkers had begun. The nightlife roared while hidden threats stalked the streets. Although still dangerous in some areas, the crime levels across the whole city had fallen due to increased surveillance and outreach programs to discourage the youth from falling prey to gang activity.

Now, the work of more dangerous supervillains was becoming the major contributing factor to crime. Across the years, Spidey's had to wrestle with Kingpin's influence across Manhattan, having to fight off several of his agents and other "business associates".

About a year ago, a bunch of the super-baddies formed an alliance that old J.J. at the Bugle termed "The Sinister Six", which consisted of Vulture, Electro, Rhino, Scorpion, Shocker, and Mysterio. Although having just barely survived run-ins with the entire crew, Spidey was able to hunt them down one-by-one, all the way to the last guy: Shocker. The rest got arrested, tried, and convicted, serving their time over at Ryker's now.

Following a tip he'd gotten from a certain Black Cat, he discovered Shocker's hideout and staked out the place. Spying on them from a rooftop window.

Using the special visor lenses that Tony Stark had modified to his suit, Peter zoomed in on the operations inside the warehouse, and saw that Shocker and his goons were creating their own specialized powerhouse, stealing power from other sources from inside the city to help energize it.

"Looks like you're up to no good again, Shocks," he sighed to himself, "When will you ever learn?"

"Maybe when he's being felt-up in prison, eh Spider?" a familiar, sultry voice playfully asked.

He quickly turned to see **Black Cat** crawling towards him to see what he was looking at through the window. As always, she was wearing the skin-tight black leather catsuit that she's always worn throughout her years as a professional thief. Her long blondish-white hair never lost its luster.

"Jesus, Felicia! Scared the daylights out of me. Haven't you heard of a phone call?"

"What, Spider-Sense not catching me around these days?"

"It senses _threats_, not people I spend my nights with."

She softly laughed.

"So? I gave you the tip on Shocker. Figured you'd need back-up."

"I thought you were busy with that business meeting."

"I cancelled it," she corrected, "I wanted to see you tonight."

"Again," he repeated, "You could've called."

"Well, I'm here now. Deal with it, Spider," she told him with a smile.

"Alright, alright."

"So, we going to sneak up on Herman and pounce or what? How do you want to play this?"

Before he could answer, Peter studied more of the layout before making his move. He spotted Shocker right in the middle of the electrical platform where his shock-absorbing thugs were wiring up multiple cables onto.

"Not sure yet. We've got to be careful this time around. I remember last time I fought Shocker, his shock blasts almost cracked my skull wide open against a concrete wall."

"Like an egg?"

"Like an egg, Felicia."

"What the hell is he trying to do _this _time?"

"I'm not completely sure. Maybe he's trying to get stronger, build a shock suit with the right electrical components to bust a bank vault wide open without much energy consumption. You know, more energy efficient. At least he's trying to be more green."

"Didn't he try that last time?"

"Yeah, but you've got to give the guy credit for his persistence. With the other five members of the Sinister Six gone, he's got to pull the slack to run his bank-robbing operation."

"True. So, I'll ask again: how do you want to play this?"

"Knowing Shocker… 'Damsel in Distress' mixed with 'Itsy Bitsy Spider'?"

"How are we going to pull off 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' here?" she skeptically asked.

He pointed to a massive pipe opening near the edge of the wall.

"Ah, okay," she observed, "Let's go."

* * *

_Inside the warehouse…_

"And you boys make sure that those cables are locked-in tight to the energy pool," Shocker ordered in his low, gruff, Brooklyn-twanged voice, "If they're loose, they're going to make crispy punks outta all of you."

"On it, boss," one of his thugs sounded off.

On the other side of the large warehouse, next to a few ship-containers, they suddenly heard a painful cry from a woman. They looked over, with a few of them raising their electric-powered rifles, and saw Black Cat stumble over into the warehouse.

"You again?!" Shocker angrily asked, stepping off the platform and crossing his arms, "You better pick your sorry ass up and get out of here, lady!"

"Oh my, will one of you help me?" she sheepishly asked, "I think I must've hurt myself trying to get in here. Please, will you call an ambulance?"

"Uh, I'll get a telephone," one of the thugs spoke.

"No, you idiot! Can't you see she's trying to play us!?" Shocker stopped him.

"But, boss, what if she's hurt?"

"So, what?! She's the same broad that robbed us of all our copper cabling last time!"

"And a sweet return that was," she murmured to herself, grinning, "Oh, but boys, I promise I won't say a word to anybody! Please, if you'll just help me!"

"I've had enough!" Shocker shouted, "Vinnie, Rick, take her over to one of the cages downstairs. We'll run the energy test then figure out what to do with her later!"

Two of his goons started to approach her and she suddenly fell over onto a box, pretending to faint.

"Look, Vinny! She's fainted!" Rick pointed out.

"It'll be easier to handle her now!" Vinny exclaimed.

As they reached to grab her, she quickly sprang into action, kicking Vinny hard in the stomach and swinging a hard punch at Rick's jaw, knocking him out cold onto the cold hard floor.

"Now the fun begins!" Cat happily exclaimed as she took cover behind a container as Shocker's men began opening fire on her.

"Keep the pressure on her! I'm going to power up the energy pool!" Shocker ordered, running towards a command console next to the platform and activating it.

"Not so fast, Shocks!" A voice called from above.

Shocker glanced up just in-time to see Spider-Man hanging from the ceiling.

"Spider-Man! I should've known that you were behind this! You and that feline nuisance have been a pain in my ass for the last time!"

"You know, you should _really _rehearse your lines before you say them, Shocks. Imagine saying that to your cellmates at Ryker's. Not a pleasant conversation. Speaking of which, that's _exactly _where you're going if you don't stand down, _now._"

"What, so that I can rot with the rest of those lunatics?! No, web-head. That's not how I'm going to go down!"

He then activated the energy pool, causing electrical shocks to pulsate through the cables and into the platform. Shocker stepped up onto it and began charging up his bracers with intense electrical energy.

"Ah, crap. Looks like we're going to have to wash them all out then," Spidey noted, "Cat! Time for Itsy Bitsy!"

He glanced over to see her beating down the rest of Shocker's thugs single-handedly. She was dodging the electrical fire off their rifles, punching and kicking her way through each of them, and knocking them down onto the ground.

She paused between punches.

"Already?! Alright, Spider, you're up!"

Peter eyeballed the drainage pipe that was sealed up. Since it had rained a lot in the previous days, he figured that a good amount of water was stored up inside the pipe that was supposed to be for anti-flooding purposes, but since so much water had been blocked from the building, the pressure must've spiked since then, waiting to be released.

As Shocker was gaining power, preparing to land a debilitating blow against his attackers, Spidey fired off an explosive web-shot at the sealant on the pipe. It exploded shortly afterwards, launching a massive stream of water into the warehouse.

Cat quickly jumped onto the top of the ship containers to avoid getting caught in the water while Spidey web-swung down and slung Shocker's thugs out of the water and webbed them onto the walls to avoid getting electrocuted by the mixture of water and electricity.

Suddenly, Peter's spider-sense went off.

"Spider, watch out!" Cat called.

Out of nowhere, Shocker blasted a shockwave directly at Spidey, who narrowly missed it by a couple feet. It tore a giant hole in the ceiling of the warehouse.

He landed against one of the walls opposite of Shocker.

"You're going to destroy your own base of operations, Shocks. You sure you want to do that?"

"If it means wiping you out, I'm willing to destroy the entire city!"

"That's no fun!" Spidey taunted.

Shocker growled, lunging his bracers forward and booming another shockwave at Spidey. He quickly jumped off the wall and shot a string of web vertically, using it to swing down and land a powerful kick across Shocker's face. Regaining his footing, Shocker pulled the wall-crawler down and began unleashing his fury through punches.

Peter had to time his punches right against Shocker, or the maniac could rip his face clean off with another shock blast from his bracers.

"Come on, Shocker! Just give up already!"

"Not before I squish you like the bug you are!"

He stepped forward and hit the web-head square in the stomach, causing him to flail backwards and fall hard against the energy pool. Just as Shocker leaned-in to stomp on him, Cat shot her grapple-hook right at Shocker's head, gripping it and pulling on it to slam him directly down off the energy pool, splashing his face into the electrified water.

Being heavily padded, he quickly recovered himself and got back onto the energy pool without a problem. But, by then, Cat had jumped onto the energy pool herself and helped Spidey back on his feet.

"You two lovebirds are going down tonight! You're going to wish you never messed with me!"

"Want to finish this quickly, Spider?" Cat coolly asked.

"Thought you'd never ask."

She ran forward, narrowly missing a smaller shock-blast from his bracers and slid below him, right between his legs, tangling him in her grappling rope. Losing his balance, Shocker fell forward, but not before meeting a strong right punch from Spidey, knocking him out cold onto the energy pool.

"Good job, Spider," she commented, letting out a sigh of relief.

The sounds of police sirens were growing closer and closer towards the warehouse, which was their cue that it was time for them to get out of there, mostly for Cat, who had a running list of warrants on her.

Shocker regained consciousness right as Spidey was finishing up webbing him against the wall with the rest of his cohorts. He quickly tried to shake and shock his way out, but the webbing was _way_ too strong.

"Get me out of here, web-head! You'll be sorry if you don't!"

"Save it for the judge, Shocks. They'll be happy to complete the sinister collection over at Ryker's now."

"Grr! When I get out of there, I'll be coming for you and your bitch friend!"

"Seriously?!" Cat growled.

Before he knew it, Cat delivered a satisfying kick with the edge of her heel on top of Shocker's head, knocking him unconscious once more.

"Pretty sure he has brain damage by now," Spidey humorously noted.

"Yeah, well he deserves it."

"Agreed. Shall we?"

"Let's," she winked.

The police closed in while the two of them made their escape through the rear exit of the warehouse. She held onto him while he web-swung the two of them up to the top of a nearby rooftop and watched as the police took Shocker and his goons into custody.

"Another job well done," Spidey proudly stated, crossing his arms, "Couldn't have done it without your help, Felicia. I appreciate it."

"Yeah, I know," she playfully answered, "So, I say we should go back to my place, have a few drinks, maybe celebrate?"

"Celebrate? I know what that means."

"I know you do."

* * *

_At Felicia's penthouse in the Upper East Side…_

Peter felt in bliss as he sat back in Felicia's huge jacuzzi in her bathroom. Having joined him, she rested her head against his bare chest while sipping away at a glass of wine. He watched her curl up to him and try to wash away the bubbles that had surrounded them.

"Glory to the Veins" by Raphael Saadiq played in the background, creating a rather sultry vibe from Felicia's playlist.

"So, we ever going to talk about what _we _are?" he suddenly asked her.

"What do you mean?"

"Felicia, we've been seeing each other like this for over a year now. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the fun, but what exactly are we?"

"Partners?"

"_Just_ partners?"

"I mean, what do you expect me to say to that, Peter?"

"I want to know if what we're doing has actual meaning."

"It doesn't have to."

"What if… What if I want it to?"

"What, you want me to be your girl? Go out on dates with you? We already do that with our nights on the town."

"Yeah, but to what end, Felicia? I can't picture myself doing the same thing forever."

"And I can't picture myself tied down forever, Peter. I enjoy my time with you, but I'm not looking for anything permanent."

"Why?"

"Why?" she repeated his question with emphasis.

She sat up and away from him, placing her glass of wine on the floor next to the tub.

"Are you afraid of commitment?" he asked.

"No, I just don't want to do _that_. Why can't we just keep what we have now, Peter?"

He sighed.

"Because I'd like to know that all this fooling around has meaning."

She rolled her eyes.

"I thought you enjoyed the fun."

Before he could answer, she stepped up from the jacuzzi and walked away, grabbing a towel on the way out of the door and back to her bedroom.

"Great," he sighed to himself, "You sure got a way with the ladies, Peter. Idiot."

As he was getting ready to get up to go talk things through with Felicia, his communicator suddenly started ringing. He had left it next to him on the jacuzzi. He grabbed it and looked to see who was calling.

**NICK FURY**

"Oh, come on, Nick, what the hell do you want right now?" he murmured to himself before answering.

"Hey Nick, what's going on?"

"Parker. We need to talk."

"If this isn't a comfort call, Nick, I'm not interested. I've kept my eye on the monitor reports from the Avengers. There isn't anything threatening that's come up in months now."

"This isn't a comfort call nor a mission assignment, web-head," he sharply answered.

"Then what is it, Fury?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I interrupting you while you spent another night at a wanted criminal mastermind's penthouse?" he sarcastically asked.

"Whoa now, I wouldn't call Felicia a 'criminal mastermind' now, but thanks for letting me know that you're still keeping tabs on me."

"Nevermind that. This is about Sam."

His ears perked hearing about him.

"Alexander? What about him? He get his head stuck in his bucket again?"

"You know, I'm reminded of how irritating your humor used to be, Parker," the director sighed, "Now is not the time for that."

"Then spill it, man. What's going on?"

"Sam was killed-in-action several hours ago off-world."

Peter's heart sank.

"Wait… what?"

"I can't discuss the details over the call, but the Xandarian Nova Corps is holding a formal funeral for him here soon in a couple of days. I just thought that the members of his old team, the other former teens that he grew up with and learned how to hone his powers with, would like to be there for him when they lay him to rest."

Before Nick could say anything else, Peter then asked,

"Who killed him?"

"Take the 0600 Delta Airlines plane out of JFK tomorrow morning to D.C. There will be an agent there to pick you up and bring you to the Triskelion. We'll talk more there."

"**Who **killed him, Nick?"

"I'll tell you all when you get here."

Fury then ended the call right then and there.

* * *

_A message from the author..._

Thanks for reading! ^^ Please review and let me know if there's anything I should improve! Thank you! - Evie


	3. Negative Consequences

**Negative Consequences**

* * *

_Somewhere in the outer-rim of the galaxy…_

The Black Order, under the guidance of Annihilus, were able to escape the Kyln via a small transport vessel and disappeared beyond the scope of the Nova Corps. Through the ship's computer, Ebony Maw was able to locate the floating derelict warship **Sanctuary I**, somewhere in uncharted space on the edges of the outer-rim star systems.

As they approached, the shadowy mass that was once the Mad Titan's flagship during his galactic conquest appeared into view, heavily damaged. A neighboring blue giant star shined nearby, illuminating the darkened void of space.

Once they docked into one of its damaged hangars, they all put on specialized spacesuits that were stored inside the transport vessel. Everyone except for Black Dwarf, who was too large to fit in them. He instead opted to guard the ship.

Inside, Maw led them through the darkened corridors where scores of dead Chitauri and Outriders were floating about in the vacuum.

"Our troops never stood a chance during that last battle," Corvus audibly sighed, "The Asgardians were too strong."

"They caught us by surprise," Proxima scoffed, "Had they confronted us straight-on, we would've decimated them."

"She's right," Maw concurred, "Just look at how the mighty Nova Corps fell to pieces after we invaded Xandar."

"Your downfall was a consequence of the Mad Titan's arrogance," Annihilus calmly interjected, "It doesn't matter how many victories you've all acquired. Pride is the downfall of even the largest armies."

"You dare speak ill of our master?" Maw sharply questioned, "Don't you forget, Annihilus, that **we're **the ones who brought you here."

"I simply speak the truth. Thanos is no longer here. Our directives have_ changed._"

"They have not! Acquiring the Infinity Gems for our master is our sole mandate."

"If he's still alive, that is."

Annihilus walked past a fuming Maw, entering the hollowed-out command room. They followed him in, where another number of dead bodies floated about. It was where they were captured by the Asgardians after Thor and Thanos fought in that very same room.

"Annihilus," Proxima then spoke.

The winged alien turned to face her.

"Yes, Proxima?"

"You mentioned a new directive. What do you mean by that? What new directive are you referring to?"

"Blasphemy!" Maw bellowed, "Proxima, how dare you begin to second guess the father!"

"I am simply asking what Annihilus suggests we do," she snapped.

"He has not been loyal to the Mad Titan as long as the rest of us have! Our first directive should first and foremost be to locate our master and bring him back now that his children have awakened."

They watched as Annihilus excused himself to examine the command room's power systems, wavering his hand and suddenly reactivating the ship. It roared to life, bringing artificial gravity back, and allowing them to exit their suits.

The alien-like command console projected a flickering galaxy map that showed them where exactly they were.

"Well, Ebony Maw," he then spoke, "By all means, find your 'master' and locate him on this map."

Maw urgently hovered forward and began operating the map. He combed through every inch of it using the last known coordinates of Thanos, as well as the energy marker that the Mad Titan naturally gave off being the last of his kind. For what seemed like an eternity, the others watched on as the most loyal of Thanos' children searched desperately for his lost father.

"I… I can't find him."

"Then, is he dead?" Corvus solemnly asked.

"No. Based off the ship's tracking, our lord departed Sanctuary I on-board an alien vessel and straight into dark space, beyond the edges of the outer-rim. Into the Void."

"Then, he's still alive. Is there a way to contact him?"

"No," Maw sighed, "Not within our means."

"Exactly," Annihilus emphasized, "…not within _your _means."

The three of them looked back at him.

"Do you have a means to contact him beyond the Void?" Proxima asked, "Is that possible?"

"Through the **Negative Zone**, yes."

"The Negative Zone?" Corvus questioned, "I thought that place was a myth."

"It exists?" Proxima asked.

"Yes, my dear pirates, the Negative Zone indeed exists. No mere myth. I know based off my brief time with you all here that you've questioned my origins at some point or another. The Mad Titan himself only sparsely believed it himself that the Negative Zone exists beyond the veil of this universe."

"No being has ever traversed into the Negative Zone and _survived_," Maw claimed, "We aren't even equipped to venture beyond the Void. What makes you think we can find our master through the Negative Zone?"

Annihilus cast a wise grin before speaking.

"Tell me. What happens when your ships venture far beyond the outer-rim? Proxima?"

"Um… First, the ship loses its ability to communicate. The cosmic winds inside the Void are too strong for any-sized ship to safely communicate," she answered.

"Correct. What happens then, Corvus?"

"The ship loses its proximity, taking away its ability to chart a course."

"And then you are lost to the stars," Annihilus concluded, "The Negative Zone exists behind the fabric of your universe. It is a dimension that I'm quite familiar with. It's navigable."

"Through there we can find our master?" Proxima asked with a shred of hope.

"If he's indeed lost in dark space, then navigating the Negative Zone will give us passageway to locating him without having to lose ourselves in the process."

"I like that idea better than risk becoming lost in the Void," Corvus commented.

Maw made a disapproving, guttural sound.

"This is a ploy. I can sense it," he defiantly spoke.

"A ploy for what?" Annihilus questioned, "What can I possibly gain from this? This is a means to your master, after all."

"You're planning something. The Negative Zone is your source of power, no? You're going to use us to regain your strength!"

"I assure you, whatever means I take to get us into the Negative Zone will be of no consequence to you all. We're all on the same side here."

"Are we?"

"Wait a minute," Proxima stepped in, "We are not here to fight one another. Maw, we may need to work with Annihilus on this. If he says he can get us to the father…"

"He is _not _one of us! Proxima, Corvus, can't you see he's trying to use us?! How do we know what's beyond the Negative Zone? If you've all heard the myth correctly, the realm eviscerates us the very moment we set foot in it!"

"Not unless we have the **Cosmic Control Rod**," Annihilus suggested.

"The what?!"

"It was a tool that I used as my mechanism to traverse the Negative Zone. I can sense its location, but… I'm afraid it's currently under the possession of the Nova Corps."

"We'll need to go to Xandar, then. They must've locked it away in their vaults," Corvus pointed out, "If they have it, that's where it'll be."

"Hold on," Maw interrupted, "We're _not _going to go ahead with his plan!"

"Who made you the de facto leader, Maw?" Proxima inquired.

"I am the master's most trusted servant! **I** am the one who brought us all together!"

"…and the one who got us all captured," Corvus added, "No, I recommend we go forward with _his_ plan."

"Agreed," Proxima concurred.

Annihilus turned his full attention to Maw, who cast an angered expression at the foreigner.

"I'm only here to help. Please see that, Maw."

Without warning, Maw seized Annihilus with his telekinetic powers and lifted him up, coiling him with his own wings and constricting him with the invisible force of his ability.

"Maw, what are you doing?!" Corvus growled, withdrawing his glaive.

"Cutting out this cancer from our side!"

Proxima and Corvus rushed in to try and stop him, but he pushed them away, lowering Annihilus until his gaze met the insectoid's.

"Nobody claims ownership of the Mad Titan's side, but **me**!" he shouted at him, "I am the faithful! I am the child that will save us all!"

It had appeared that he squashed Annihilus for good…

Until…

Maw found himself unable to move. He suddenly began to feel his body and arms begin to burn, as though they were boiling from the inside. Losing his focus, he dropped Annihilus, who carefully recovered only to simply stand and glare at him.

"W-What sorcery is this?!"

"No sorcery, Maw. This is only the powers of manipulation, down to the very molecule that makes you what you are. See, the abilities one learns in the Negative Zone are unique, powers which are easy to relegate if someone has never experienced it before."

"S-Stop! S-Stop this or I'll…I'll…"

Annihilus glanced back at Corvus and Proxima, who were just now getting back up on their feet several feet away, then back to Maw.

"T-This was never about… finding Thanos… was it?" Maw croaked.

The insectoid shook his head.

"If only you could see it when the wave comes forth, Maw."

"What w-wave?!"

"**Annihilation**."

It was all that Maw could hear last before he melted away into a gooey substance on the floor of the command center, with only his soiled robes left. Corvus and Proxima ran over to see what had happened to Maw.

"It would appear that your wizard friend decided to kill himself. Shame."

"What? Why would he kill himself?" Corvus skeptically asked.

"Perhaps he was so shrouded by shame that he failed his master that he saw no other way to deal with it. I'm not sure."

The two of them couldn't believe that Maw, one of the Mad Titan's most trusted leaders, would off himself like that. It didn't seem like him at all. But, there was nothing they could do but stare at the pile of what was left of him.

"Come on, you two," Annihilus beckoned from the other side of the command room, "We have an artifact to recover from the Nova Corps."

* * *

_A message from the author..._

Thanks everyone who's reviewed so far! ^^ Anything that helps me write better I'm grateful for! Also, I enjoy listening to music whenever I write, kind of like to immerse myself into the chapter, so if you're interested in listening to what I picture the scene's music to go like, I'll post the track and artist below! It's mostly just original scores and stuff, nothing too flashy! ^^ Thanks! - Evie

Music Tracks:

"Prey" by Michael Salvatori


	4. Amongst Family

**Amongst Family**

* * *

_At the Triskelion…_

After about an hour in-flight, Peter landed in Washington, D.C., still exhausted after his intense argument with Felicia the night prior. She had interpreted his sudden trip as an excuse to avoid her or stop seeing her altogether. Regardless, it was an issue he knew he'd have to put on the sidelines until he figured out what happened to Sam.

A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent picked him up from the gate and drove him to the long bridge that led to the Triskelion, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters and center of operations around the globe. The silvery skyscraper rested with vigilance near the banks of the Potomac on Theodore Roosevelt Island.

He was reminded of the last time he was there, saying farewell to Fury and Coulson, who had been there for him since they started the junior branch of the Avengers division. It seemed just like yesterday that he said goodbye to his old team. He remembered Sam joking about how they'd all meet up for a barbeque in the Caribbean or something, but that never came about. Everyone was just too busy for that.

The agent parked the vehicle on the curb in front of the main entrance and escorted Peter inside, passing by the impressive atrium where the silver eagle emblem of the agency stood as a monument right in the middle. They took the elevator up to the sixth or fifth floor below the top, where Fury's old office used to be.

"Wait in here," the agent instructed him inside a lounge outside Nick's office, "The others will be with you soon."

Before Peter could ask who else was coming, the agent departed and disappeared into the office hallways.

He slouched back onto one of the dark-grey couches, eyeballing the coffeemaker in the corner on-top of a break-room table. Debating whether or not he'd go make a pot, he took out his phone and tried to figure out what he should text to Felicia, or if he should at all.

Instead, he decided not to, choosing to give her some time to cool off instead.

He went over to make a pot a coffee when he heard a familiar voice greet him.

"Peter?"

He turned to see his old friend, Power Man, **Luke Cage**, standing in the entryway in a grey hoodie and black jeans.

"Luke?!"

"Oh man, blast from the past, Pete! It's so good to see you."

They walked to each other and leaned in for a warm, brotherly hug.

"Yeah… I just wish it was under better circumstances."

"Yeah," Luke sighed, "When Fury told me the news, I thought it was some bad prank. But, to find out that Sam was _killed? _Well, that was a shocker."

"Did Fury mention how it happened? Who did it?"

He shook his head, scratching the back of his bald head.

"He said he'd discuss all that when we got here."

"Wait," Peter interrupted, "_We? _Does that mean?"

"Yup. He called Danny and Ava back too it would seem."

Seconds later, another figure approached in the doorway. It was Danny, dressed in a grey three-piece suit and black tie with a white dress shirt underneath.

"Oh man, Danny Rand!" Peter greeted, "The illustrious fortune-cookie has returned!"

Danny smiled.

"Luke, Peter! Many blessings upon you both! I'm so thrilled to see you both again. My, it's… it's been years hasn't it?"

"Yeah, hell of a beard you've got there, Rand," Luke joked, seeing Danny's golden locks braided underneath his chin.

"Yes, well, you seemed to have lost a lot of the hair at the top of your head, old friend. It would appear that you've grown an animal on your mouth instead," Referring to Luke's beard.

Danny hugged his two former teammates and took a seat, sharing a cup of coffee with them after Peter's pot had finished brewing.

"So, tell me," Danny solemnly began, taking a sip, "Has the director told you both any news of Sam's death? Who did it? How it happened?"

"We were just talking about that," Peter informed him, "He's keeping us in the dark about it, it seems."

Danny let out a grieving sigh.

"I hated that the most about working for him. We always had to be told the important information on _his _terms."

"He hasn't changed," Luke pointed out.

"Well, the important thing is that we're all here. Whatever we can do to help in the investigation. I've cleared my calendar with my company. This takes priority."

"I'm just trying to figure out _how _we're going to help," Peter pondered, "Sam was killed somewhere in outer-space, _way _outside our jurisdiction."

"I don't care if he was killed on Asgard," Luke sharply answered, "We'll find the person who did this to him. That is, if they haven't found them already."

"I don't think so. Fury would've said that otherwise."

"Maybe," Danny contemplated, "Regardless, being there to lay our friend to rest should be the first thing we do. He would've done the same for us."

"Speaking of which, where's Ava?" Peter then asked.

The other two shrugged.

"Haven't seen her since we all said goodbye to each other," Luke noted, "You know how she is. No Facebook. No Instagram. Not even a Twitter. All she does is work."

"She is practically married in service to the agency," Danny joked, "Or maybe she's found herself a spouse?"

"Have you?" Luke snickered, "No queen to K'un-L'un yet? What happened with that Colleen girl you were talking to all those years ago?"

Danny humoursly pressed his left index finger to his lips, "That is under wraps, my friend."

Suddenly, they heard heels clicking down the hallway, right before a woman appeared in a short black skirt and white dress shirt. A glowing green jade amulet was clasped gently on her waist belt. They immediately recognized her.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the three stooges," Ava jokingly greeted them.

"There she is!" Luke greeted, "About time you show up, Ayala!"

She smirked, placing her hands at her hips, "Yeah, well while you all decided to retire, _somebody _had to pick up the slack. There's enough work around here to last me the rest of my life."

The three stood up to greet her, with Luke and Danny both hugging her.

"Ah, Parker," she then greeted the webslinger with a warm smile, "It's been a while."

"Yeah, it has, Ava."

He extended out a hand in greeting and she shook it.

"I've been keeping an eye on the Avenger reports out of New York. You've been doing a great job out there," she noted.

"Thanks. Spider-Man's still everyone's favorite superhero, you know?"

She briefly chuckled.

"Still the same humorous Parker, eh?"

"Always!"

Peter offered her a cup of coffee, but she declined for a cup of tea instead. She talked with them while she prepared her own cup at the break-room table.

"So, do you have any news about what happened with Sam, Ava?" Danny inquired, "We figured since you worked here, that you'd know more."

"Not necessarily the case, Danny," she sighed, "I don't get the same reports that Fury does in the special operations division. I'm kept in the dark more than anyone else here, especially so since it regards Sam."

"Damn. Then, what are we planning to do about it? If that monster who put Sam down is still out there, I say we go after them," Luke fiercely suggested.

"Get in line," Ava commented, "Just think about how The Guardians of the Galaxy might feel? You know, the team he served with _after _us? I bet they're itching for blood all the same. Not to mention the new Nova Corps."

"True."

"What do _you _think we should do, Ava?" Peter then curiously asked.

She shrugged her shoulders.

"If it were up to White Tiger, I'd say we take a S.W.O.R.D. spacecraft and start looking for clues. I don't care if it's some fifty-foot cockroach monster, I'm still kicking their ass for killing buckethead. But Agent Ava Ayala knows that we'd be limited out there. With no support, we'd be as good as dead the moment we leave the atmosphere."

She finished steeping her tea and began sipping on it, turning to face the others.

"She's right," Danny concurred, "There's no telling what type of adversaries we might encounter across the final frontier."

"We've handled ugly before," Luke assured him, "Plus, web-head has some outer-space experience, don't you, Pete?"

"Eh, so-so. There was that one time Rocket dragged Nova and I out to do something in space with the rest of the Guardians. That seems like it happened a lifetime ago, though."

"That's more experience than the rest of us," Ava noted, "Well, you three have been up this road before with me. We won't find out _anything _until the one-eyed man in there tells us."

"Speaking of which, how's work been for you, Ava?" Peter then curiously asked.

"Stressful?" Luke added.

She rolled her eyes.

"Some days stressful, some days downright boring. I've spent so much time in South and Central America that I'm almost sick of the routine."

"Busting up crime lords?" Luke asked, "Didn't think S.H.I.E.L.D. had a stake in the drug war."

"Not drugs, per say, that's D.E.A.'s issue. We're primarily concerned with any terrorist cells that have found roots down there. I've been on Hydra's tail, specifically."

"Hydra? Really?" Peter sounded astonished.

"Yeah, they've got some pretty powerful allies too," she continued, "But, I had just gotten home from an assignment when Fury called about Sam. Took the next flight out of San Juan that next day."

"I'm glad that you didn't give up the White Tiger powers either I see," Danny observed, "The world is safer with you fighting to protect it."

"Thanks, Danny."

Peter had glanced over at the amulet on her waist, seeing it glow vibrantly, just like it used to back when she wore it with her original White Tiger suit. In doing so, he absentmindedly began admiring her physique. She obviously stayed really fit all these years.

But, just as he was going to look away, Ava waved her hand at where he was gazing at, causing him to look up at her.

"My face is up here, Parker."

"Oh! I'm sorry! I was just… uh…"

Luke and Danny burst out laughing.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't even think about it."

"I was just noticing the jade tiger amulet on your waist is all," he nervously stumbled.

"Uh-uh. Same place as it's always been."

"She got you, Pete," Luke chuckled.

Before the situation could get anymore awkward, the door to the director's office opened. The mysterious Nick Fury loomed in the doorway with his hands clasped behind his back, wearing the same black trench coat that he's always worn with the same grim expression he's always had.

"Well if it isn't the Junior Avengers, all grown up," he darkly greeted them, "I thank you all for showing up at such short notice."

"Anything for Sam, Fury," Luke assured him, "So, are you going to tell us about what happened to him?"

"Of course. That's why you're all here."

From within the office, two other figures emerged.

Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon.

"Wait a minute, is that… a raccoon?" Danny observed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who you calling a raccoon, hippie?!" Rocket snarled.

"Hey, Rocket, enough of that," Star-Lord scowled, "We've got enough problems to worry about."

"He called me a raccoon!"

"Is that not what you are?!"

"I'm the most good-looking specimen this side of the quadrant, Quill! **Do not **start with me!"

Fury sighed, beckoning the others to follow him into his office.

"We've got a lot to talk about."

* * *

_A message from the author..._

Hey guys! ^^ Let me know what you think of this one! Thanks so much! - Evie


	5. The Briefing

**The Briefing**

* * *

_At the Triskelion…_

After the rest of the team sat down in Fury's spacious office, Star-Lord and Rocket cut right to the chase. They pulled up a holographic projector from a small tablet and tossed it on the table in front of them, which displayed a 3D image of a large space station of some sort.

"This is the **Kyln**," Rocket began, "All you humans need to know about this place is that it houses some of the nastiest, most sadistic, most rabid and ferocious criminals in the galaxy. After the fall of the Nova Corps the first time, the Kyln was taken over by those assholes on Asgard through a secret accord with Xandar. After the Nova Corps came back, it returned to them."

"Hey, watch the language, Rocket," Star-Lord interrupted.

"Shut your face, Quill! I'm talking here! Now, where was I? Oh yeah, the Kyln. Yeah, basically it's the place where everything you dispose of in your toilets end up at. Anyway, our boy **Nova** was sent over there after the station lost power because some moron in maintenance forgot to turn off a switch or something. He partnered up with Gamora, a former member of ours, and they fought through the max-security block to restore power to that side of the prison."

The hologram flickered and changed images to surveillance footage of the prison as Nova and Gamora were fighting through it.

"Were they successful?" Danny inquired.

"They were," Rocket answered, "Power got restored from a giant power module hanging in the middle of the block… like a giant scrotum."

Star-Lord rolled his eyes.

"**But**," Rocket continued, "The module lost its gravitational control and fell down to the bottom of the block, dragging Nova along with it. He ended up in the section of the block where they stored the worst of the worst. The **Black Order**."

"Who?" Peter questioned.

"Have you all ever heard of a guy named Thanos?" Star-Lord then curiously asked.

They all shook their heads.

"He was this big-headed alien who caused an insurrection a while back and nearly destroyed the entire universe. Long story short: he got his ass kicked by the Asgardians, disappeared into dark space, and his gang of henchman, the Black Order, got locked up in stasis over at the Kyln," Rocket answered.

"Did Nova have a run-in with them or something?" Ava asked.

"He did."

The hologram then flickered once more and displayed more footage from the underbelly of the block, where Nova fought off the Black Order, consisting of four aliens, one of them with telekinetic abilities.

For a while it seemed like he was winning… until another figure came into view. A tall, green alien, with large greenish-red eyes, and distinguishable wings. He distracted Nova long enough for another of the Black Order to sneak up behind him and impale him on a large metal rod.

The team watched in horror as the winged figure removed Nova's helmet and tossed it aside, leaving the young hero to drag his body across the ground to try and reach it. Gamora then ran into the scene a few minutes later, with barely enough time to hear Nova speak his final words, and watch his body become lifeless.

"Sam…" Ava quietly wept, "He… he didn't deserve that kind of death."

"Damn straight he didn't!" Rocket furiously emphasized, "When I find those pieces of scum, I'm going to stick their heads right into the ship's cannons and…"

"Chill out, Rocket. Calm yourself!" Star-Lord ordered.

"I'm calm, damn it! I just… I need a moment."

The raccoon excused himself towards the windows on the far side of the office.

Peter didn't know how to feel watching one of his closest teammates get killed off like that. He felt overly sad, yet overly angry at the whole situation. Removing his helmet the way that guy did was a straight insult at Nova's memory, almost like he regarded Sam as nothing in the end.

"I want names," he then told Star-Lord, "I want to know who the guy who stabbed him was and the guy with the wings."

"Same," Ava added.

"The guy who stabbed Nova was **Corvus Glaive**. He was possibly regarded as Thanos' third-in-command next to Ebony Maw, who's the skinny, Einstein looking cat right there," Star-Lord explained, "The guy with the wings is **Annihilus**… who… uh…"

"Who we know next to _nothing _about," Rocket irritably finished for him, returning to the group.

"How? He was locked up in there with the rest of the Black Order, right?" Luke questioned.

"Yeah, but here's the thing, big guy. That bug-looking maniac _isn't _part of the Black Order. This guy isn't even from this universe."

"That… doesn't make _any _sense," Peter pointed out, "How can he not be from the universe? Is he from like… an alternate dimension or something?"

"Precisely! See, this winged abomination is from a little fairytale land they call the **Negative Zone**. It's a dimension that exists within the fabric of our own reality consisting almost entirely of antimatter."

"Up until this point, we had regarded Annihilus and the Negative Zone as myths," Star-Lord then pointed out, "Nobody who has ever dared to venture into the Negative Zone has ever come back."

"So? He might just be some random joe from another planet pretending to be something he's not, right?" Luke suggested, "A fake?"

"We haven't ruled that out either," Rocket answered, "Either way, he and the rest of those schmucks are going to become nothing but vaporized chunks of meat after _I'm _through with them!"

"Don't forget _us_," Danny spoke up, "We have just enough stake in this as you all do."

"That's out of the question," Fury finally spoke, "Anything that deals with off-world is under S.W.O.R.D.'s jurisdiction on this one."

"Oh, cut the crap, Nick," Peter raised his voice, "One of our own got killed in cold blood and you're not even going to let us help bring this guy to justice?"

"We have allies that we can call upon _exactly _for this type of confrontation, Parker. That is the whole reason behind S.W.O.R.D: to deal with threats that cannot be handled by the protectors of Earth."

"And, no offense, kid," Star-Lord added, "But besides our little skirmish all those years back, have you even _been _back to space? Have any of you?"

"That shouldn't matter," Luke argued, "You called us here and now we're here to help."

"**I **called you all here so that you can see Alexander off at his funeral on Xandar," Fury corrected him, "I didn't call you all back here to have another superhero adventure in some far away part of the galaxy."

"So, who's handling it, then?" Ava questioned, "Sir, S.W.O.R.D. doesn't have neither the capability nor the resources to launch an investigation into Sam's murder. You'd need a team to press this issue forward."

"She's right," Rocket barked, "The Guardians of the Galaxy have been split up for ages now. There's not a team out there that'd risk their neck to find Annihilus and the Black Order."

"Rocket, now isn't the time," Star-Lord quietly murmured to him.

"So, what? These kids want blood, I say we let them ride with Groot and me and go find some blood! You're too busy here playing politics with the pirate-man over here, Quill. Gamora's probably still traumatized from Sam's demise and Drax is either dead or halfway to Andromeda by now. Either way, Groot and I are the best shot you've got at this!"

"We're _not _kids," Peter corrected, "Not even remotely."

"Shut it, web-head, before I vaporize you into the next century!"

The others snickered.

"No," Fury stamped out the thought, "I am not sending an Earth-based team to follow up on this. They are to attend the funeral on Xandar and turn around and come _straight back _here. Ayala has her own assignments she needs to ensure are completed."

Peter heard her quietly sigh next to him.

"Alright, alright, whatever you say, one-eyed man," Rocket shrugged, "Just goes to show how much you gave a crap about Nova anyway."

"Rocket, enough," Star-Lord intervened.

"No, screw you too, Quill. Groot, these folks here, and I are going to Sam's funeral and we're going to make sure he gets the best damn sendoff since Yondu and you best believe it!"

Before either one of them could say anything, the short raccoon trudged off and out of the office, emphasizing his anger with Star-Lord and Fury. Star-Lord excused himself to go see what the heck got into Rocket, while Fury stayed behind and gave them a warning.

"I meant what I said. You go there. You pay your respects, then you come _right _back. We're at an important moment for S.W.O.R.D. right now, trying desperately to make these secret alliances with alien civilizations ironclad. The last thing we need is for you bunch to disrupt that."

"But, Nick, we wouldn't even…" Peter tried to interrupt.

"The answer remains **no**, Parker."

Peter simply glared back at Fury while the director glared back at him.

"Now, you all should've brought enough clothes for the trip. I expect the talking raccoon to depart here shortly. Best if you don't miss your flight."

As they got up from their seats and walked out of the office, Fury taunted them with one last word of advice.

"If you all get captured out there, don't expect me to come save you all this time around."

* * *

_A message from the author..._

Hope you guys enjoyed it! Thank you all so much for your reviews! They really help! Thanxx! ^.^ - Evie


	6. Take Off

**Take Off**

* * *

_Outside on one of the helipads, about half an hour later…_

After the briefing, the team gathered their belongings and followed Star-Lord out towards one of the executive helipads on the roof of the Triskelion, where a starship waited for them. **The Benatar**, with its black-and-orange color pattern, was sleek in its design, mirroring the shape of a hawk with its wings spread out, with secondary flaps to control directional steering that resembled feathers.

"I've never been to space," Luke commented as they approached, "Who would've thought a black man from Harlem would ever get the chance to?"

"Indeed," Danny concurred, "This should be an enriching experience for all of us."

Rocket waited for them on the rear ramp with his little arms crossed, his expression grim.

"Alright, you losers," he barked, "This here's the Benatar. It used to be our signature ship before the Guardians split, but just cause we're out of commission, _does not _mean that you four can trash it! You break it, I'm sending the bill to Nick Fury!"

"Funny, I said the same thing to you years back and you _still_ ended up leaving a mess," Star-Lord humorously mentioned, "It's still _my _ship, Rocket."

The raccoon then stalked off into the ship, grumbling to himself.

"Is he alright?" Peter asked Star-Lord, who simply shrugged.

"Well, you were there when Rocket came to Earth to pick up Nova all those years back. Sam was his mentee, after all. All the good… and bad… that Sam was, he learned most of it from that mangey raccoon. Couple with the fact that the Guardians are no more, I think he's trying hard to process everything while not completely losing his cool."

"He seems hurt, that is for certain," Danny sighed, "Sam's death has certainly left us all worse."

"Aren't you coming too?" Ava asked.

"I would if I didn't have Fury breathing down my neck about this whole S.W.O.R.D. business. I promised Rocket and Gamora I'd visit the shrine on Xandar after this is over."

"They're building a _shrine _for him?" Peter asked, astonished.

Ava laughed, "As long as they make his helmet big like his ego used to be, I think it's fitting."

"Yeah, well he _is _the one who brought the Nova Corps back," Star-Lord emphasized, "It's a pretty big deal to the Xandarians that _the _Nova is dead."

"I'm surprised Fury isn't coming too," Luke solemnly pointed out, "You'd think he'd want to come."

"I wouldn't be so hard on your old boss," Star-Lord assured them, "The man carries more mental and emotional burdens than I've ever seen anybody carry. I _know_ Sam meant a lot to him. I'm sure he's grieving in his own way. Maybe that's why he's trying so hard to make S.W.O.R.D. official, so that he can have a hand in protecting the galaxy, like Sam would've wanted."

The team pondered this deeply, while remembering Fury's last "word of advice" to them before they departed.

Bidding their farewells to Star-Lord, they entered the Benatar, where they found a very spacious and rather accommodating interior. Granted, it was the first time for everyone inside a starship, but it seemed more like a home than a weaponized starship belonging to one of the most powerful superhero teams in the universe.

There was a main cabin with a large table in the middle that appeared to project a holographic map of the entire galaxy, with a red dot pinpointing their current location. On one of the sides was an armory of different weapons, some ten times larger than Rocket with his name scratched on the receiver. There was a central spiral stairway that led to the lower deck, which were living quarters. Rocket had already prepared the beds for them.

Behind the stairway was the cockpit, where six seats in-total were lined up in two columns, facing the front of the starship.

They placed their stuff in the living quarters and headed back up the stairs and into the cockpit, where Rocket was sitting at the front pilot seat while a potted wooden stick plant sat as co-pilot. Ava and Peter sat behind them while Luke and Danny sat in the last row.

"You all settled in?" Rocket asked, "There's a food storage on the other side of the weapon rack. Avoid the snacks with the red labels. Those are toxic to humans and will melt your insides."

Luke cast a mortified look, "You serious?"

"I mean, give them a try if you want. Don't say I didn't warn you."

"I am **Groot**," a deep and proud voice suddenly spoke from the co-pilot seat.

"Who was that?" Danny asked, looking around.

"Oh, forgot to make introductions. Groot this is Nova's old team. I think you remember Peter Parker. You know, **Spider-Man**? Everyone, this is Groot."

They awkwardly said hello to the potted plant.

"I am Groot."

"Uh, nice to see you again, Groot," Peter greeted.

"Is that all he does?" Ava asked, "He just continuously says his name?"

"Try having your voicebox be made of nothing of wood and splinters," Rocket sharply pointed out, "His kind can only say that phrase, but spend enough time with him, and you'll pick up on what he's saying…. Most of the time."

"I **am **Groot."

"Yeah, yeah. No need to tell them that, Groot."

"I am Groot."

"This is amazing," Danny marveled, "I am on a journey to the stars with my best friends to help pay our respects and say farewell to our space-faring best friend while being chauffeured by a raccoon and a plant."

"Yeah, yeah, a stoner's wet dream, I know," Rocket sighed, "Is everyone buckled in? If you end up splatting on the backside of the ship when we kick up the speed, I'm _not _cleaning up your hot mess. I'll bill Fury for that too."

They each took a minute to figure out the complex belt pattern that wrapped around them. It was obviously meant to keep you seated as securely as possible.

Ava's got tangled as she tried to wrap the secondary strap around her abdomen. Peter leaned in to help untangle it and handed her the straps.

"Thanks, web-head."

"Don't mention it. Try not to get it tangled next time, huh?"

She simply shrugged.

"Maybe if it wasn't so complicated…"

"Hey, I heard that!" Rocket barked, "Now, if you all are done, let's get this show on the road. It's a bit of a jump to Xandar, so let's hit it before we end up missing the funeral."

"I am Groot."

Suddenly, Groot's physical form grew immensely in size and began to take the form of a large tree-like humanoid with arms and legs. His branch-like hands wrapped around the co-pilot steering controls. He then looked over at Rocket and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I know I've got to get the rear thruster fluids replaced," Rocket mumbled, "_You_ try shelling out all those units at once to those space mechanics. Criminals, I tell ya."

They both started to flip switches on the control panel, causing the Benatar's wings to spread open, revealing itself to have a much larger wingspan than originally seen. The rear thrusters ignited and the craft was quickly hovering above the helipad.

Rocket grabbed a control rod on his side forward and the starship took flight… rapidly. It ascended up into the skies faster than any military jet, faster than anything made on Earth. The raccoon pressed on the speed, forcing the g-force higher.

Peter grabbed the edges of his armrest to resist the overwhelming power of the g-force. It seemed to get worse and worse the faster they went and the higher they were ascending. He closed his eyes, trying hard not to puke. By the time he thought he was about to pass out, it suddenly stopped and leveled out.

He opened his eyes and saw the front windshield of the cockpit shift from the D.C. skyline now to the starry void of outer space.

As they were all recovering from the take-off, they then heard Rocket burst into laughter.

"You all should see your faces! Ha! We popped their space-flight cherry, Groot!"

"I am Groot."

"I don't remember it being that bad last time," Peter commented, still trembling.

"Well, there's a second time for everything, web-head!" Rocket continued, "You can all relax now. Smooth sailing from here to Xandar."

"I am Groot."

"**No**, the last time we stopped there for food, we almost got kidnapped by slavers. Forget it!"

"I am Groot."

As Peter rested back in his seat, Ava nudged him. He looked over at her.

"Mind giving my hand back?" she sharply asked.

He looked down at the armrest that was next to her and realized that he had gripped his hand on-top of hers during take-off. He quickly let go of it, allowing her to stretch it out.

"Sorry! Didn't realize."

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I don't blame ya. _That_… was crazy," she glanced back, "How are you two holding up?"

Danny was puking into an air sickness bag while Luke had passed out in his seat.

"Ha! Welcome to space!" Rocket coolly exclaimed.

"I am Groot."

* * *

_A message from the author..._

Hey everyone! Let me know what you think of the chapter! Fave/follow if you love it! ^.^ Thank you! - Evie


	7. Remembering Sam

**Remembering Sam**

* * *

_Somewhere near the edges of dark space…_

After Annihilus gathered up the remaining members of the Black Order, they were able to reactivate Sanctuary I's primary thruster engines and reutilize it as their flagship, despite the extensive damage it had sustained during its battle with the Asgardians during Thanos' insurrection. Using its jump-drive, they were able to chart a course to Xandar, where the Cosmic Control Rod was suspected to be stored on.

The winged leader perched himself at the throne-like chair where the Mad Titan once sat, staring out into the empty void beyond at the helm of the ship. He briefly sighed before being called on.

"Coordinates for Xandar have been locked, Annihilus," Corvus reported, "However, I have concerns."

"Speak them."

"With our master's armies gone, we can't hope to take on the entirety of Xandar _and _The Nova Corps at the same time. How will we go about reacquiring the Cosmic Control Rod?"

Behind him, his cohorts Proxima and Black Dwarf approached, eagerly listening for the answer Annihilus would give him.

"The Nova Corps doesn't suspect an attack and that will be their vulnerability."

"And how will we expose that vulnerability?" Proxima questioned, "If we fail in penetrating their defenses, we will be easily eviscerated by the onslaught."

"How should we proceed?" Corvus clarified.

Annihilus briefly scratched his lower mandible, deep in thought on how to strategize this. He had a clear memory of how the capital city on Xandar looked like from his study of the planet.

"If the Cosmic Control Rod is indeed at the Nova Corps Headquarters, then we'll need to utilize Sanctuary I's hellfire capabilities to act as a diversion against the city. Draw out the Nova Corps to orbit. Someone will have to remain on-board here to facilitate that attack."

"I can do that," Black Dwarf grunted.

"But, we can use your sheer might," Corvus suggested.

"No, I want _him _to do it," Annihilus clarified, "For our part of this mission, his brute strength will be unnecessary."

"And what will _we _be doing?" Proxima then asked.

"We will take the transport vessel we arrived in and infiltrate the capital while Xandar's defenses are trained on Sanctuary I. For a bit of show, we can mimic certain movements on-board the ship to make them think that the Mad Titan has returned. Disperse phantom riders and such. Once we reach the headquarters, we'll use whatever methods of deception that we have in our disposal to reach the vaults undetected. Then, once I have the Rod, I can use it to transport us through the Negative Zone as our escape."

"But, Annihilus," Proxima interrupted, "What if the rod isn't there?"

The winged alien cast a grim expression at her in response.

"Then we'll rip the truth from them until we discover its location!" he snapped.

Without another word, he turned his back on them to face back out into the void, shutting down the conversation completely.

* * *

_On the other side of the galaxy, on the Benatar…_

After the team recovered from that puke-inducing take-off, they were able to freely stretch their legs about the cabin while Rocket and Groot remained at the helm. Danny opted to stay up front with them both and listen to their tales while Luke took a nap in the living quarters. With a few hours on the jump left to go, they had to find something to preoccupy their time.

"…So, I told Quill to grab that guy's leg and can you believe the moron _actually _brought me the guy's _metal leg_!" Rocket laughed, "I've been stealing prosthetics as a practical joke ever since!"

"I am Groot."

"Okay, from the _bad guys_, wise ass. I'd never steal from anybody that didn't deserve it!"

"**I **am Groot."

"He **was** a bad guy! Have you forgotten about that mission already?!"

"You've both lived quite the interesting adventures," Danny enthusiastically noted, "What do you do now that the Guardians are no more?"

"I am Groot."

"Bounty hunting, mostly," Rocket casually answered, "There's always some prick who thinks he can stay free in the galaxy with a bounty on his head. We usually score pretty decently too, but lately the contracts have been getting smaller and smaller."

"Why's that?"

"Well, the Nova Corps is back, for one. Your boy Fury's trying to convene the entire galaxy to accept the S.W.O.R.D. initiative. All that surveillance just means that it's going to be a really bad time to be a bad guy, so nobody's doing it. Those that do are sticking to the unrestricted corners of the galaxy, where your odds of getting kidnapped and enslaved are high."

"Surely the initiative is for the benefit of everybody, no? A safer galaxy is a better one?"

"I guess," Rocket sighed, "But, who's going to do the dirty work once everyone's busy playing galaxy troopers?"

"Why should we need to do that if we don't need to anymore, Mr. Raccoon?" Danny innocently pointed out.

"I am Groot."

"I _know _he has a point, Groot."

Over at the galaxy map table, Ava and Peter were watching the Xandarian news footage that reported Sam's death and how it was because of an "accident" during a routine inspection at the Kyln. The pinkish-skinned alien discussed how this was an "end of an era" and a travesty to the entirety of the universe.

"Hmph," Ava scoffed, "Even on other planets, their news broadcasts cover up the truth to the public."

"My guess is that they don't want the public to freak-out that a homicidal maniac is on the loose," Peter calmly noted, "Just think about the mass hysteria."

"I know. It's better this way, but it still doesn't make it right. Not for the people anyway."

"Bet you've seen a lot of dirt being covered up during your time with S.H.I.E.L.D. Eh, Ayala?"

"Oh, you have _no _idea. I was working a Hydra lead in Colombia once that led me to a connection in the United States government. Can you believe that? It was a congressman who was revealed to be wiring hundreds of thousands of dollars to these people to help sponsor the drug fields for this much larger operation I wasn't cleared to read deeper about. Anyway, long story short, a mole in our team leaked that we knew who the congressman was, and Hydra had the congressman killed before we could get to him. News covered up the whole thing. Said that he died in a car accident."

"And what happened with Hydra?"

"Well, they cleaned up loose ends. Their mole swallowed a pocketful of cyanide once he realized we found out about his allegiances. Hydra disappeared out of the country shortly afterwards, leaving us only scraps."

"Wow. It's surely a step-up from busting down the likes of Batroc and Trapster back in the day, huh?"

She laughed.

"Oh man, I had almost forgotten about those two. But, yeah, it's definitely an upgrade."

"Do you enjoy it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you enjoy what you do now as much as you did fighting supervillains with us?" he clarified.

"Well, I enjoy the work ethic but I'm usually the only one with any form of superhuman abilities on any given team. That's annoying after a while when you're the one who has to do all the groundwork."

"You still didn't really answer the question."

She just smiled and shrugged.

"I miss my old team, yes!"

"There we go, that's the answer I was looking for!"

They both shared a warm laugh, while looking over at the news footage periodically.

"So, are you still with… Felicia Hardy, is it?" she then curiously asked.

"Yeah… I am. Still trying to figure her out, though."

"Oh man, Peter Parker trying to _figure out _women? You might not be able to find the solution to that one, Parker," she sarcastically joked.

"Yeah, that may very well be the case!" he chuckled, "But, I'm just trying to move forward with our relationship… and she wants to just keep it the way it is. Just fun. No commitment. Nothing serious like **I **want it to be."

"Does she know that?"

"She does. I left New York on bad terms with her because of it."

"Well, you've just got to clarify that with her. She's a human being with her own feelings too."

"I know. I'm just starting to have serious doubts," he sighed.

"Well, do you love her?"

"Huh?"

"Do you 'love' her, Parker?" She clarified.

"I mean… I guess? I guess I do?"

She shook her head.

"Then, you don't."

"What? How would you know?"

"Call it… 'woman's intuition'," she winked, "And if you _really _did, you wouldn't have hesitated in answering."

Before he could say anything, Luke popped his head out of the stairwell, looking tired and disoriented. Peter decided to shelf the conversation for later.

"Hey, man," Peter greeted, "Had a good nap?"

"I guess," he grunted, stretching his arms and his chest, "I can see now why black people stay out of space. We have no business going through an ordeal like that."

"Well, you're here now," Ava humored him.

"True enough. So, how are you two holding up?"

"Not terrible. Pete and I were just talking about how the Xandarian news stations were covering up Sam's death."

"It's a shame. Knowing how Sam was, he would've loved to have everyone know how he went out in style."

"Don't forget, he'd want his own holiday too," Peter chuckled.

"Probably his own planet named after him," Ava added.

Danny joined them after hearing parts of their conversation from the helm. They all shared a laugh remembering Sam for the cocky wiseass he was, but then grew silent, with each one of them waiting for someone else to speak up.

"I remember the pancakes Sam used to make when we all crashed at your place, Pete," Ava remembered, "Gosh, I never would've told buckethead to his face, but those pancakes were _amazing_."

"Hell yeah they were!" Luke agreed, "The man was a culinary genius."

"He was basically Aunt May's second son," Peter solemnly pointed out, "In a lot of ways… he felt like a brother to me. I remember he had a huge problem when I was assigned as team leader on day one. He wanted to be leader so bad, but… I guess he felt so overshadowed by me, when I didn't have a **_clue_ **about what being a leader was all about. I learned a lot from him… and… I like to think he learned a lot from me too."

"Spoken like a true leader, Peter," Danny commended him.

"If it wasn't for your leadership, Pete, I don't think he would've been able to reestablish the Nova Corps on his own. _You _taught him selflessness. That was a trait he desperately needed in his life," Ava pointed out.

He felt good hearing that from her.

"Indeed. I remember when Sam always used to yell at me from across the hall for burning too many incense sticks and other meditation devices. He once tried to get rid of them by burning them all at once inside the helicarrier's engine core and ended up filling the entirety of the ship with the smell of incense for weeks. Fury had assumed it was me and almost had my skin, but… then Sam spoke up and admitted that it was his doing."

"I remember that, Danny," Luke chuckled, "Sam was in the doghouse for months, but he eventually bought back all those incense sticks for you, didn't he?"

"He did. Before we truly became a family in our group, he _never _would've said anything. Goes to show how honest he became."

"The last time I saw Sam was a week or two after we had all split up. He was wrapping up his loose ends on Earth before leaving to Xandar and stopped by the barber shop I was working at in Harlem. We had a laugh, he let me cut his hair, and then I remember a group of kids walking inside for a haircut. These shorties couldn't have been more than eight or nine and they were simply amazed by the cosmic tricks Sam showed them. He made the galaxy pop up from the energetic projections from his hands and told them that if they studied hard enough at school, worked hard, never let any limitations stop them, that one day they'd be able to reach the stars and beyond," Luke spoke, almost with tears in his eyes.

They all listened attentively, in silence.

"…That's when I knew that Sam had learned compassion. He gave those kids a hope only Nova could."

While they spoke a little longer about their adventures with Sam, Rocket approached them from the helm.

"Hey, if you losers are done with your pity party, we made it to Xandar."

They all walked back towards the helm and took their seats, looking out at the massive earth-like planet ahead of them. Several starships were docked out in orbit, some of them refueling, others intaking other larger ships for cargo. The unmistakenable Nova Corps starfighters patrolled the surrounding orbit.

The planet itself was lush in green, with the more technological areas being highly illuminated under the side that was covered in darkness.

"Starcraft, you've entered Xandarian space. Identify and send your credentials for safe passage onto the planet," a young yet authoritative voice spoke over the transmissions channel in the ship.

"Yeah, this is the **Benatar**, former Guardians vessel, here for Nova's funeral," Rocket growled back, "Transmitting credential codes now."

"This reminds me of that scene in the Return of the Jedi," Peter murmured to himself.

"I am Groot."

"Benatar, these credential codes have expired three cycles ago. You will need to head to the Xandarian visitor station in orbit to be verified for new ones."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Hey, **moron**! This is Rocket Raccoon and Groot of the former Guardians of the Galaxy, here for **Nova's **funeral, you stupid desk jockey! Don't you know the galactic hero's dead?! Who gives a crap about your stupid codes in your stupid bureaucratic shitshow! You let me land right now or I swear on Yondu Udonta, I'll come back with a Ravager army so large, I'll make you the biggest stain on Xandarian history! I WILL EAT YOUR BRAINS!"

The others, including Groot, simply watched in great surprise… and a little bit of fear… of Rocket's ferocity over the transmission line.

About a minute passed before…

"You're cleared to land, Benatar."

Rocket didn't even give the officer on the other line the courtesy of an acknowledgement, he simply steered the ship forward and into the atmosphere.

"This is the crap Groot and I have to deal with," Rocket complained, "It's like, you save the galaxy a couple thousand times, and the ingrates refuse to acknowledge you at all."

They descended into Xandar, eager to send a proper farewell to their best friend.

* * *

_A message from the_ author...

Hey everyone! Let me know what you think on this chapter! I appreciate all the advice and tips I've received so far! I've reached out to all the major writers on this site as recommended by The Story's Shadow, so all I ask please is for some advice to help me build my storytelling ability! Thanks so much! ^.^ - Evie


	8. The Funeral

**The Funeral**

A/N: I listened to "Vigil" by Jack Wall while writing this piece. Give it a listen if you guys want to fully immerse in this one! ^.^

* * *

_On Xandar, at the Nova Corps Headquarters…_

After dressing up in their formal attire, the team disembarked off the Benatar and followed Rocket and Groot through the majestic headquarters of the Nova Corps, which resembled more of a silvery palace than anything else. Inside the massive entrance hall were tall golden statues of warriors that had fought for the Nova Corps from long ago, each one resembling a different Nova, with their names etched on a plaque below them.

Finally, they reached a great hall, where thousands of Novas of all ranks sat, all facing towards the front of the hall, whispering amongst themselves. At the end, a giant gold engraving of the Nova Corps star insignia was etched onto the three-story wall, with the sun beaming through the centerpiece.

Below it was a gold open-casket.

Peter's heart dropped when he saw Sam's lifeless body carefully resting inside of it.

"Come on," Rocket solemnly beckoned the team, "We've got seats at the front."

The Novas all turned to stare at them as they walked through the center aisle towards the front. Peter was relieved to see that they weren't casting nasty expressions, but rather concerned ones. A few of them had tears in their eyes, while others simply kept staring forward, without a care to their presence.

When they finally reached the end, mere feet away from Sam's casket, they all took a moment to look at him.

He was wearing a beautifully designed version of his armor, with a gold engraving of the cosmos etched into his chest-plate. Held in his hands was his black helmet.

"He is at peace," Danny lamented, speaking what was on everybody's minds.

"Yeah, kid," Rocket sighed, "He is."

They all took their seats and watched as the ceremony commenced. The Nova Corps anthem played over virtual speakers, with projections of Sam Alexander when he was younger, switching images as he grew older in life.

Nova Centurions standing on the far right then raised their energy rifles in the air and shot off a string of gold-blasts that dissipated before making contact with the opposite walls.

Finally, the hall was silenced, and a tall figure approached the podium next to the casket.

He wore a very elegant darkish-blue armor piece much like Sam's, with a golden helmet and a red cape that draped down his back. He rested his golden-gauntleted hands on the podium and spoke. His deep voice magnified across the great hall.

"Greetings, my fellow guardians of Xandar, my fellow soldiers of the Nova Corps. It brings me great pain and sorrow that we must lay to rest one of our most beloved guardians, Sam Alexander, our **Nova**."

"Who's that, Rocket?" Luke curiously whispered.

"That's Tanak Valt. Nova Prime. The leader of the Nova Corps."

"…I remember a young Sam from many cycles ago who came to us without a purpose. He was rebellious, fearful, and insensitive of the living universe around us. For a time, I could scarcely believe that he was capable of caring for anything outside of himself. He always lusted for more, and often it was never enough.

"But, as he began to grow into a young adult, learning more and more of what it meant to be a Nova, I began to see the seedlings of our teachings begin to sprout into something greater: heroism. All the while, he still had much to learn.

"When we were decimated by the Mad Titan's Insurrection, Sam found refuge on Terra, amongst another team of heroes who are fortunate to be here today. There, Nova learned everything the Nova Corps wasn't able to teach him. Leadership. Loyalty. Commitment. Courage. These became the traits that exemplified him.

"He returned to the stars to bring the Nova Corps back to life and lead the galaxy to a new era of peace. All of us here are indebted to him. However, as a result of his death...the galaxy is a colder place without him."

Above the hall, a large second-floor balcony overlooked the ceremony, with several higher-ranking members of the Nova Corps watching on as Nova Prime addressed them all with his tenderhearted eulogy.

Gamora was amongst them, her eyes fixated on Sam's casket. She couldn't escape the guilty feeling that she shouldered the moment Sam died in her arms. A tear slid down her eye, desperately trying to shake the memories of when he was just a child trying to become one of the Nova Corps, in an attempt to find his father.

They listened to Nova Prime tell stories about how Nova fought off scores of alien invaders in different skirmishes across the galaxy, about how he helped save whole planets from imminent doom from threats such as the Kree or the Klyntar, and about how he helped rebuild whole civilizations that were still affected from the Mad Titan's Insurrection.

Peter was amazed to hear about Nova after he had left Earth. He always knew he'd do great things. But, from the sound of it, he achieved something greater than what even he thought Nova was capable of.

In the end, Nova Prime finished his eulogy by calling on the leaders of Nova's old teams to say a few words at the podium. Rocket reluctantly got up and walked over, waiting impatiently with gritted teeth for someone to lower the podium. Once they did, he cleared his throat before speaking.

"Sam… He was… He was a good kid, you know? He always did right by us and…"

The little raccoon's voice choked up.

"…he was a good kid."

He then trudged back to his seat without another word. Stuffing his face into his little hands.

Ava then nudged Peter.

"What?" he whispered.

"You were Sam's other leader, Parker!"

Quickly realizing this, he got up from his seat and nervously walked over to the podium, lifting it back up and staring out into the silent masses that had gathered in the great hall.

"Um… Hey, everyone. What… What a day, am I right?"

A cough was heard somewhere in the sitting crowd.

"I… I remember meeting Sam for the first time and…"

He glanced over at the casket, imagining Sam laughing his ass off at his nervousness up at the podium.

"Stop making a fool of yourself, webhead!" The vision of Nova cackled.

He briefly smiled at his old friend, before looking back.

"Sam was… he was probably the funniest guy I've ever met in my life. When I first met him, he was so high on himself. He always acted like the world revolved around him. But, he always lived life with a bit of humor. He had the funniest jokes. It made him charismatic to those that didn't know him. In the end… I miss that the most about him."

He glanced at his team, who expressed confidence in his words.

That was before an alarm sounded off in the great hall.

_**"Invasion force detected in-orbit. All troops, to your battle stations. This is not a drill. Xandar is under attack."**_

Peter stepped back from the podium, allowing Nova Prime to take charge.

"I want starfighters in orbit, immediately," he calmly ordered.

Suddenly, the entire building shook.

"What was that?!" Luke shouted.

"Bombardment!" Rocket answered, "We need to get out of here!"

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_A message from the author..._

Please read and review, everyone! ^^ Thanks! - Evie


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